The present invention relates to a system for exposing a sample to the interior of a reaction vessel.
In the chemical industry it is frequently necessary to monitor the conditions within a reaction vessel to ensure optimum operating parameters. This may be done on the basis of experience and/or computer modeling of the reaction within the vessel but it is preferable to monitor the exact conditions existing within the vessel. One technique used for such determination is to expose a sample of the material being tested (catalyst, dessicant or the like) to the conditions within the vessel and determine from subsequent inspection of the sample the conditions within the reaction vessel. Such sampling needs to be conducted with minimum disturbance to the reaction vessel and without the need to shutdown the entire process. It is also frequently necessarY to maintain the sample within an inert atmosphere to obtain an accurate determination of conditions within the vessel.
Previous proposals for obtaining such samples include the use of a rod-seal valve, such as those sold under the trademark RAM-SEAL by Fetterolf Corporation of Pa., U.S.A. However, rod-seal valve systems are considered to be susceptible to mechanical difficulties when operated in an environment containing non-uniformly sized, abrasive catalyst particles. Furthermore, although such systems do provide for the withdrawal of samples from the reactor, they do not readily permit the insertion of an isolated sample into the reactor.
It is therefore an object to the present invention to obviate or mitigate the above disadvantages.